Sane Legislation
Sometimes government does right where the market does not. Congress — finally — passed a federal law requiring health insurers to cover mental health in the same way as physical health. The law was long overdue, and yet easily could have been shelved for another session. As a Minnesotan, I’m heartened that a Republican like Jim Ramstad (rest in retirement) pushed the bill after a Democrat like Paul Wellstone (rest in peace) championed its cause.
Of course, the law does nothing for the 48 million of our fellow citizens who — this is an embarrassment to write — don’t have health insurance in the first place.
This post was added on Friday, October 03, 2008 by Tom Swift at 23:36 and is filed under Health Nut, Soapbox.
"Any idiot can face a crisis. It's day to day living that wears you out." -Anton Chekhov
Andy Alt (Oct.05 08 at 17:25)
Tom, thank you for writing about this. Related to Mental Health, I”ve started a blog called “Mental Health in Northfield MN.” It’s just getting off the ground of course, but it should turn out to be a good resource for the Northfield community. What will make it better is if I can find others who would co-administer it with me. I typically think collaboration yields the best results, kind of like a government where checks and balances are in place.
The address is northfieldmn.wordpress.com and I used that URL when submitting this form instead of my personal site, so clicking my name above will lead a person to it.
I’m a little starved for Northfield-specific content right now, so I’m going to add your post to it (credited to the author of course).
Tom Swift’s Comments on Mental Health Parity Bill « Mental Health in Northfield MN (Oct.05 08 at 17:35)
[...] from Tom Swift’s site: Sane Legislation …As a Minnesotan, I’m heartened that a Republican like Jim Ramstad (rest in retirement) [...]
Andy Alt (Oct.08 08 at 15:00)
Some followup:
MinnPost - Wellstone’s landmark mental-health parity: What’s ahead for the law
Etta (Oct.27 08 at 08:45)
Good words.